How Fate Changes
by Bad Wolf Baybe
Summary: Another 'what if' one-shot that goes along with my main story.  What if Willow's attack had different end results?  How would that change her life?


Hey people! This was an idea that I was mulling over but then decided not to go with it, but thought it would make a nice little one-shot. Like, Is It Right?, this is a 'what if' type story based of my Fred/OC stories with Willow. This is what if she did lose the baby. For those of you who haven't read my actual story, I'll brief you. Willow (my OC) falls in love with Fred. Willow accidently becomes pregnant. Willow is not happy about being pregnant. Willow leaves school with Fred and George. Fred and Willow fight. Fred kicks Willow out. Fred wins Willow back. Willow's in Diagon Ally and gets attacked. That's where the story picks up. This does an ok job of standing alone, but of coures I encourge you to read my actual stories and review!

And thanks to pinkrose14 who betaed this. THANKS A BUNCH!

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter. I own only Willow as well as a few other people places and things. But that is all.

* * *

Fred looked around the store, trying to find Willow. It had been at least twenty minutes since he last saw her. "Verity," he called to his worker, "do you know where Willow went?"

"Yes, Mr. Weasley, she went to Gringotts to confirm some money transfer thing. She said she would be back soon."

Fred remembered her saying that she was going to write to them and ask if she could move her money. She has been worried that they would deny her for whatever reason, so he was happy that they finally got back to her. He smiled his thanks toward Verity, knowing that Willow would be back soon.

xoxo

Tonks was doing her sweep of Diagon Ally. She liked to walk about every now and then, just in case she came across some valuable information. She was able to find out some locations of Death Eaters that proved to be very helpful to The Order.

As she was walking, two sleazy guys crossed her path, laughing. "Oh look, we 'ave anfer one," said one of the guys, eyeing Tonks.

"Yes and this one isn't pregnant," she said the second, "much better for some fun."

Tonks wasn't having any of this. "If either of you touch me, I will hex your arms off, now get out of my way!" She shouted, pointing her wand at them while her hair changed from a bubble gum pink to a hot red.

"Ooo she's feisty," said the first man, taking another step toward her.

"More of a challenge than the other one," said the second man, mimicking his friends actions and taking a step toward Tonks.

"This is your last warning, leave or I hex you," she said, standing her ground. The two men kept walking toward her, reaching for their wands. Before they could grab it, she stunned them both and smirked as they fell to the ground. "I warned you," she said as she passed them.

She continued walking, putting the two creeps out of her mind. They aren't the worst people you could meet in Diagon Ally. As she was walking, she noticed someone lying on the ground. _Probably a passed out drunk_, she thought to herself. But on closer inspection, she realized that it wasn't a passed out drunk at all. "Willow!" She gasped when she realized who it was.

She rushed over, inspecting her friend. "Willow? Willow can you hear me?" She asked, turning Willow over so she was face up. "Oh Merlin, we have to get you to St. Mungo's." She held Willow tight in her arms and with a _pop_ was gone.

xoxo

Arthur Weasley dreaded the conversation he was going to have to have with his son. Not even a half hour ago, Tonks contacted them and told him and his wife that Willow was in the hospital. He stopped by St. Mungo's to check up on her, and that's when he got the news. He figured that it would be best if Fred heard it from him and not one of the Healers.

Taking a deep breath, he stepped inside the shop and searched for his son.

"Dad!" Arthur turned around to see George, or at least he was pretty sure is was George. "What are you doing here?"

"I need to talk to Fred; do you know where he is?" Arthur asked.

"Um yeah, I think. Want me to get him for you?"

"That would be lovely. Thank you." A slightly confused George left to go find his twin brother. Arthur took this opportunity to think of ways to break the news to Fred. He would be completely devastated, there's no doubt about that. He just needed to think of a way that would be as painless as possible.

"Hey dad, George said you wanted to talk to me," Fred said, stepping into view.

"Yes, yes I do. Can we go somewhere more private?"

"Sure, we can go to the flat. You haven't seen it in a while, have you?"

"No, I only saw it when you first bought it." Fred led Arthur up to the flat he shared with his brother and girlfriend. Fred was showing him all the rooms and what they've done to it and renovations for the future. Arthur wasn't paying much attention though. He saw how happy Fred was, showing him the flat and everything; he hated being the one to take that away from him.

"And this," Fred said, entering another room with his father right behind him, "is me and Willow's room, soon to be the baby's room as well. We figured that we would put the crib right over there, and move the dresser to the other side. What do ya think?"

"It's great, Fred, really great." Arthur said, his heart breaking when Fred mentioned the baby. There was a twinkle in his eyes every time he talked about the baby. He was so excited to become a father. Arthur didn't have a doubt in his mind that Fred would make a wonder dad. He knew that Fred always wanted children, and his dream was finally coming true. Well it was.

"I take that whatever you have to tell me is serious," Fred said, all joy leaving his face.

"Yes, it is. Fred, you might want to sit down for his."

"Dad, whatever it is, I'm sure I can handle it."

"It's about Willow."

"Is she alright?" Fred asked, now giving his father his full attention, and then some.

"Not exactly. She got hurt, walking in Diagon Ally. Tonks said that some guys beat her up pretty bad. She's at St. Mungo's now, unconscious."

"I have to go see her," said Fred. He began to leave the room, but his father grabbed his arm, preventing him.

"There's more." Arthur said flatly. Fred stopping trying to leave and looked at his father, worried etched on his face. "I'm really sorry, son. But..." Fred continued to stare, growing more worried by the moment. "I'm sorry, but she lost the baby."

Fred took a small step back, his eyes never leaving his father. "No, no she couldn't have," he said shaking his head.

"Fred, I'm so sorry," Arthur said, reaching out to his son, but Fred continued to back away.

"She couldn't have. She couldn't have! She's six months pregnant! She couldn't have lost the baby...my baby." Fred shook his head and walked around his father. "I'll kill them. I'll kill the people who did this!" he said angrily. He walked up to the wall nearest him and gave it a couple hard punches.

"Fred," he father said, softly, trying to calm his enraged son.

"They hurt my girlfriend and took away my baby! I'll _kill _them!" He yelled, trying to mask the pain and sadness he felt with anger.

"Fred that's not going to help." Arthur gently placed his hand on his son's shoulder. Fred slowly turned around, resting his back against the wall.

"Why, Dad? Why'd they have to kill my baby?" Fred knew he needed to be strong. Willow was going to be a wreck when she woke up. He needed to be strong and be there for her, to hold her tight while she cried. But Willow wasn't here right now; it was just him and his dad. He didn't need to be strong for anyone at the moment, so he let himself be swallowed by the grief that he felt.

Arthur looked at his son. He saw that this was destroying him. "I don't know, Fred," he said softly. Fred looked up at him, his eyes now red and slightly watery.

"I really wanted to be a dad," Fred muttered, a few tears slipping down his face.

Arthur felt so incredibly helpless. He wanted to take away the pain that Fred was feeling, he'd give anything to take it away, but he couldn't. So he did the only thing he could do, give him support. He reached out and pulled Fred to him tightly. Fred clung to him like there was no bloody tomorrow, and it away, there wasn't. Part of his life had already ended, a part he would give anything to have back.

It had been years since Arthur had seen Fred cry, or any of his sons for that matter. They were growing up, if not grown already, and learned new ways to deal with sadness. Plus if they did, their siblings would tease them. But this was different, this was one of the greatest losses anyone could experience; powerful enough to bring any man to his knees and put a strain on even the most steady of relationships.

Arthur continued to hold his son, until Fred had calmed down some. Arthur pulled away and looked over Fred. Fred's eyes were red and puffy while his cheeks were tear stained. "If you guys need anything, anything at all, you're mother and I are here to help, ok? Don't be afraid to ask." Fred sniffled and tried to smile. Arthur placed his hand on the side of Fred's face, giving him a gently pat. "It'll be hard, but you'll make it through this."

"I really hope so, Dad," Fred said softly.

xoxox

I had no idea how long I had been out. For the longest time, all I could see was darkness. Finally, after much effort, I was able to open my eyes and take in the world around me. From the room I was in, I assumed I was in St. Mungo's. There was a woman in the room, taking notes on a clip board. From the way she was dressed, I could tell that she was a Healer. She glanced up and smiled at me. "It's about time you woke up. Everyone's been so worried."

"How long was I out?"

"Five days. Everyone's been real worried about you."

"What happened to me?"

"Well you were brought in and you suffered a minor concussion and..." she trailed off and I knew the next part couldn't be good. "I'm sorry, but you lost your baby." I stared at her for a moment. Did she really just say I lost my baby? I placed my hands on my stomach. It was sore and a little bit swollen, but flat and lifeless.

"Oh my god," I said as it all sank in.

"I'm really sorry," she said softly before walking out. My whole world came crashing down around me. The whole time I was pregnant I dreaded having a kid. I didn't want to keep my baby, I wanted to give it up. Now that I'm not pregnant anymore, that's all I wanted. I wanted to have a baby, to cradle my baby against my chest.

Without warning, tears began to rapidly fall from my eyes. "Willow?" I looked over toward the door and saw Fred standing there. When he saw the state I was in, he rushed over crawled in bed next to me, holding me close.

"He's gone! Our baby! He's gone!" I sobbed. He kissed the top of my head a held me close as I sobbed. "I'm such a horrible person! The whole time I bitched and moaned about being pregnant, I was so wrong! I wanna be a mom! I wanna be a mom more than a Healer! But I can't now because I lost him!" Fred continued to hold me.

"You're not a horrible person, Willow. It's ok," he said, trying to calm me. It wasn't working very well, I was still hysterical. It made me think, how could Fred be so calm during all this? He wanted that baby from the very beginning. The only possible explanation is that he knew about this well before hand, otherwise I can't help but think that he would be more of a wreck than me.

xoxo

I was allowed to go home a few days later, but I was still in a bad mood. I just couldn't seem to wrap my mind around the fact that my baby was dead. Fred wasn't super happy about the whole thing either, though he seemed to be taking it better than I imagined. Probably because he had time to prepare.

Fred and I decided that we wanted to try for another kid, on purpose of course. This time I would be happy about being pregnant and love every minute of it. So that's exactly what we did. We tried, and tried, and tried. We tried for several months, and nothing. I couldn't seem to get pregnant. And it wasn't just that, but sex with Fred had changed. We use to do it because we were in love and wanted to express it. It was fun and had meaning. Now, it still has meaning, but it feels more like a chore, something that has to be done. There's no love, no passion left in it anymore. It's just something that needs to be done so we can get pregnant.

But sex wasn't the only thing that changed. Our whole relationship had changed as well. We rarely talked to each other like we use to. It seemed we were more like college roommates that didn't really like each other than boyfriend and girlfriend. Sure we would laugh and joke during meals, but that was mostly because George was present. He tried his hardest to get us back to our old selves, but it wasn't really working. And at night, when we use to lay wrapped in each other's arms, we now laid on our own sides of the bed, not touching each other.

I know I blamed myself for the loss of our child. If I had just done something instead of just standing there like a scared little puppy, I could have been a mom. I know he would never say it out loud, but I think Fred blames me too. I didn't mean to lose our child, it was an accident.

I walked into the kitchen. Fred was leaning against the counter, drinking a cup of coffee. "I packed my bags," I said, standing in the doorway.

"You got a place to stay?" he asked. Fred would never kick me out after last time, but I knew I couldn't stay here anymore.

I nodded. "I'm going to go stay at Tiff's. Her sister-in-law said that she could help me finish up my seventh year so I can re-apply for New York for next semester. I'll be a bit behind, but I think I can make it up."

"I think you'll do great," he said. I slowly walked up to him.

"I'm really sorry about what happen Fred. And I still love you." He glanced down at me and gave a slight nod. I reached up and kissed him on the cheek. "You'll make a great dad one day," I said before turning to leave.

"I still love you too, Willow," I heard him call to me. I turned around and gave him a sad smile before heading to the bedroom to gather my things. On my way, I ran into George.

"Your leaving." It wasn't a question. He was well aware of the situation and knew I would be leaving soon too.

"I'm sorry, George." He smiled at me before pulling me into a hug.

"I'll miss you, Wills."

"I'll miss you too, Georgie," I muttered, returning his embrace.

"If you need anything, you know who to call," he said as he pulled away. I smiled and nodded. He gave me a quick kiss on the cheek before I turned to gather my belongings.

This was so not how I imagined my life would be like. First I saw myself going to New York, then having a family with Fred, and now I'm changing to New York again. Honestly, I would much rather be having my family with Fred. But that's never going to happen now.

As I grabbed my bags, a few tears slipped out. This was the end to my most perfect relationship, and I'm leaving my most perfect boyfriend ever. It's amazing how things can change so suddenly and how much you could want your old life back.

* * *

Tada! Like I said before, I thought about this idea, but I had the baby too worked into the plot to change it. This doesn't effect the real story, just a 'what if'. The next chapter to Life's Hidden Path will be up soon! R&R!


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